Voci nel Vento
by Fionn Rose
Summary: Rose is part of the team that Lucy and Desmond come to after their escape. Rose's ancestor Aria worked closely with the Auditore's and so she enters the Animus with Desmond to gain clues and to help him train to be an Assassin. Ezio/OC. Rated T for now.
1. Chapter 1 Edited

Voci nel Vento.

Chapter 1: Nightmares and Greetings.

**A.N:**** So recently my brain has begun to give me a ton of ideas and this one sprung up when I pre-ordered my copy of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. I have loved these games since the first one and even though I loved the Crusade's setting and the character of Altair, isn't he just such a loveable arsehole? :) I found something so much more satisfying in the Renaissance setting and Ezio's character. And so, now that I have become 'mildly' addicted to Assassin's Creed , a****_gain, _I have decided to write a story for it. Yes it is OC and there will be pairings, definitely EzioOC at some point and maybe DesmondOC later on but that is not definite. By the way the title means Voices in the Wind, or at least it should do as I am very limited in my knowledge of the Italian language. Spanish, French and a little bit of Portuguese I am fine with but my Italian is incredibly shaky and translators are not always correct so if I get something horribly wrong let me know.**

**This has now been edited at a time that isn't 1am and should now (hopefully) be free of typo's. (hopefully)  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Assassin's Creed franchise but I do own my OC's**

**Watching: Mock the Week. Best. Comedy. News. Panel. EVER!**

**On with Chapter 1!**

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_Blackness._

_Voices surrounding me._

_Bodies crushing me against a cold stone wall._

_Why was I in here?_

_I had done nothing wrong._

_Help me!_

_What's that hissing noise?_

_It is coming from the walls!_

_I can't breath!_

_Help!_

_Why won't someone help me!_

_I can hear choking coming from the people I can't see._

_It feels like I am drowning on land._

_Help._

_Help!_

_HELP!_

_

* * *

_

I bolted upright in my bed, breathing hard and with a light coating of sweat on my brow. That dream again. It had been haunting me ever since I tested that blasted machine. I rolled over onto my side and glanced at the glowing red numbers of the alarm clock on my bedside table.

3:30 am.

I groaned and turned back over, knowing that it was useless to try and get back to sleep now. With this knowledge in mind, I stretched and climbed out of the double bed that was my temporary sleeping place and started shuffling towards the door and out into the corridor. Moving down the furbished hallway of the warehouse I found myself in front of the bathroom. I went inside, locking the door, then wandered over to the sink to take a look at my bedraggled appearance in the mirror. I was quite sure, when I looked at my reflection in the mirror, that if anyone had come across me while I was shuffling down the hallway they would have though I was a ghost of some sort and probably would have immediately run off in the direction that they had come from. My naturally pale skin looked sickly and transparent under the harsh fluorescent lighting in the bathroom and this only helped to emphasise the deep purple shadows that had recently made themselves permanently at home underneath my sleep clogged, forest green eyes, which, for the past week, had seemed duller and seemed to lack the shine that was usually found in them. My hair did not help matters. The dark brown curls were now doing their best impression of an afro as they stood out, frayed and knotting, from my scalp. I sighed and rubbed my eyes with one hand. It was safe to say that I looked positively shite from my lack of sleep.

Stripping off the light grey tank top and baggy tracksuit bottoms that I always wore to bed, I switched the shower on and set it the tempurature as hot as it would go and activated the power setting. I got in and closed my eyes as I let the hot water cascade over me and finally, after about ten minutes, I could feel the heat of the water washing away the soreness from my body. I got out and dried off, dressing in a clean pair of tracksuit bottoms and a white tank top, setting off for the kitchen, once I had managed to make myself look halfway presentable, and tried to decide if I was going to have coffee or tea. Having coffee would allow me to intake enough caffeine to ensure that I could make it through to lunch without needing to go back to sleep but only make me more tired when I came down from the high, but if I brewed myself some tea it _would_ calm me down and help me sleep but meant that I would have to confront the nightmares sooner or later. So in all reality it all came down to how much of a coward I decided that I was going to be. By the time I reached the kitchen I had decided that I was going to be a total coward and drink enough espresso to make sure that I would be sky high until at least early evening.

Walking into the kitchen I noticed two things, one, the coffee pot was already on and brewing, and two, there was someone already in the kitchen waiting for me. I could tell immediately who it was from our 'happy' little group, despite them having their back to me, purely from the fact they had known I was coming here and would eventually choose coffee over tea.

"Hello Rose."

I groaned and moved into the room to sit on one of the kitchen stools.

"It really is bad to develop irregular sleeping patterns you know."

I glared up at the man now standing over me with my very early morning espresso held in one hand.

"Piss off Shaun. There is nothing irregular with my sleeping patterns. If anything, they are regularly irregular which would then make them regular sleeping patterns."

I glanced up at him again and I could tell by the very straight and neutral expression on his face that he did not, in any shape or form, find my slightly sarcastic and smart-arsed response amusing at all. I could also tell from that combination of expressions that I had just earned myself one of Shaun's famous lectures and, if the person on the receiving end, which was usually myself or Rebecca, had any sense at all they would have run for the hills before he could even start pronouncing the first syllable. But I was tired and I couldn't quite frankly bring myself to move from the kitchen stool and so I would have to suffer nobly in silence for the next, oh I don't know, half an hour or so.

"This has got to stop Rose. These nightmares are stopping you from getting sleep. That in turn means that you are far too tired to preform regular functions, much less fight or be of any practical use at all. This means that you cannot properly protect yourself but you also cannot protect anyone else as well and this WILL get you killed."

"_I know Shaun_," I replied slowly, "It's just terrifying. More so than anything else I've experienced. It isn't like being surrounded by a large group of Templars. When I'm put into a situation like that I know that I can always think of plan to escape or at least try to. There's still hope, you know? But this, this is different. I just feel so helpless, there _is_ nothing I can do. No hope that it won't happen or that I can stop it. It's inevitable, and that terrifies me."

I paused, and was about to carry on with my somewhat depressing monologue, when I let out a loud and unexpected yawn. This made me pause. I was drinking coffee, I should _not_ be getting more tired and drowsy. I should be awake and alert. I gazed down at my now empty coffee mug and then up at Shaun only to find a very smug grin had taken up residence on his face. _Now_ I was concerned.

"Shaun. What the fuck did you put in my coffee?"

"Oh you know," He said in a light-hearted tone while shrugging his shoulders, "only half a bottle of Night Nurse. I wouldn't have had to have added that much if you didn't have that ridiculously high resistance to drugs and poisons."

"Oh, you're a dead man." I ground out while trying to keep my eyes open.

I was already coming up with many varied and painful ways to get revenge for this 'little' drugging incident.

He laughed, "I'd like to see you try, you look about ready to drop off. You can carry on planning how you're going to murder me when you wake up."

And with that statement, I found myself drifting off into an empty and uninterrupted sleep.

* * *

I woke up, back in my bed, to find that I had been asleep for a whole day. It was when I realised that I had slept so long without a single nightmare and that Shaun was the cause of this most needed 'beauty sleep', that I realised that I would not have the pleasure of murdering Shaun in a painful and drawn out way and that I would have to thank him instead. With this thought dampening my mood, I made my way to the bathroom for a refreshing shower. Now showered and dressed in my usual royal blue t-shirt, black skinny jeans and black low top Converses, I made my way to the kitchen and brewed myself some Earl Grey tea. Seeing as there was nobody in the kitchen, which was the usual gathering area, I figured that they must be setting up in the Animus room for today's arrival.

Wandering into the room containing the two Animuses, or Animi as they would be in plural, I found Shaun and Rebecca arguing in the centre of the room.

"I can't believe that you were out for twenty four hours! What the hell were you doing?"

"Chill Shaun. I wasn't doing anything dangerous. I was just having a good time."

I walked over to one of the chairs nearby, sat down, and placed my mug on a table beside it.

"Shaun, lay off Rebecca. As she said she wasn't doing anything dangerous or compromising to the mission. If anything, I would say that you were jealous that she was getting some last night and that your 'well of potential' has completely dried up." I spoke and looked at Shaun with a satisfied smirk. Just because I couldn't cause him physical harm didn't mean that I wasn't going to take the opportunity to annoy him.

Shaun sent me a glare the was set at around DeathCon 5. "Well if it isn't sleeping beauty. Glad you could finally join us."

Now it was my turn to glare at him. "Well I would have been up earlier but _someone_ decided that it would be a brilliant idea to spike my 4am coffee with half a bottle of Night Nurse. I may be well equipped against drugs and poison but I'm not fecking Wonder Woman."

Rebecca started laughing at this. "He had to spike your coffee with half a bottle of Night Nurse just to get you to sleep?"

"Yes." Came my very short reply.

This cause Rebecca to laugh even more and, with a sigh, Shaun sat back down to carry on ordering his research. Once Becca had finished cackling like a hyena, she turned to me and grimaced when she cause sight of my plain Earl Grey that I was drinking.

"How can you even _drink_ that stuff without any milk and sugar?"

I rolled my eyes at this. Honestly, from the way she was eyeing the cup and her tone of voice, it was like she expected the tea to suddenly jump out of the mug and kill me just because it wasn't swimming in milk and sweetener.

"I can drink it because it is _nice _and _refreshing._" I said, putting emphasis on why I liked to drink tea without milk and sugar.

"Also it is a lot healthier than coffee when tea is drunk straight and it has relaxing properties on the body and mind." Shaun piped up from his seat.

Becca just stared at us as if we had grown two heads and multiple other limbs. She then sighed, shook her head, and turned around to carry on tinkering with the circuits on the Animus.

"Crazy British" My sensitive ears heard her whisper over the sound of clanging metal.

"Hey we're English. Not British. Your lucky that you didn't say that to a Scot. They _really _tale offence at that." I replied in an indignant tone.

All I got in reply was a non committal "Whatever" and so I turned to Shaun with a look of exasperation on my face.

"It isn't that difficult to grasp. Calling us British is like calling someone from the USA 'North American' or 'Canadian' and I know for certain that they would not be happy."

Shaun just nodded in agreement as he reached across the desk and handed me a manilla folder.

"What is this for?"

"That, Rose, is the profile of the ancestor that you are going to be living through when you journey into the Animus with Subject #17."

"WHAT?" I was pretty that all the dogs in the surrounding area had been able to hear the high pitched shriek I let out when I was given this tiny titbit of information.

"We have found out that one of your ancestors, Aria della Valle, was closely linked with Ezio Auditore and his family. Therefore, you shall be going into the Animus to help Desmond and to hopefully get more information on the Pieces of Eden."

"You really _are_ serious about sending me back into that horrible machine aren't you?" I said, "Have you really forgotten what happened last time, when I was testing the bloody thing to make sure it was safe for #17?"

Becca had wandered over during the conversation and, at this statement, both of them looked guilty.

"Look Rose," Becca started, "Last time was just a miss calculation on our part. We had the realism set too high. This time we have everything pre-programmed everything before hand so that nothing goes wrong. We've learned from our mistakes. I can assure you that it will be safe."

"It would also be quicker if you went in with #17. You have the most experience as an Assassin in the field out of all of us, even Lucy, and the fact that one of your ancestors was so closely linked with the Auditore's makes you the perfect candidate."

I looked at both of them. I really couldn't argue at their logic and I knew that this time they really did plan and double check everything to make sure that it was as safe as possible. I knew I had no choice, but, that didn't mean that I had to like it.

"Fine." I huffed.

I snatched the folder from Shaun's hand and plopped down on the chair at my desk to read through it.

It was mid afternoon when the sound of a phone ringing broke through the silence. Becca jumped up and placed it on speaker phone as we all gathered round.

"Hello?"

"Hi guys." The voice of Lucy Stillman came out of the phone and I could feel a large grin work its way onto my face.

"Not dead yet then Luce?" I asked her down the phone.

I could hear her laughing at my statement. "Well I hope not, but, for all you know, I could be speaking to you from the other side of the grave."

I couldn't help but chuckle at this statement.

"We both got out of Abstergo without too many problems."

"Cool. So where's the 'saviour' then? Not making himself too noticeable I hope."

"Don't worry he's in the trunk. Nobody will even know that he's there." came the reply.

The absurdity of the statement got to all of us, even Shaun, who never really laughed in high pressure circumstances.

"You, my friend, are _muy loco._ I hope you realise this." I told her.

"Rose, your mixing languages. You only do that when nervous or tired. You haven't been sleeping have you?" I could hear the concern in her reply and, before I could answer, Shaun did so for me.

"No she hasn't. However I was able to give her enough sleeping drugs to get her rested enough for today."

Lucy sighed. "I guess that will do. Look, I will speak to you all when we arrive. We should be with you in about thirty minutes."

"Alright Luce. We'll see you then." I replied and clicked the phone off.

"I guess all we can do now is wait."

* * *

I heard the footsteps that were coming up the hallway and the voices that accompanied them before the other two.

"Guys. They're here."

Shaun and Becca both looked at me and then at the door as we waited for Lucy and #17 to enter. If I wasn't feeling quite so bitter about him being the cause of me having to re-enter the Animus, I probably would have addressed him by name but I wasn't, so therefore, until he actually spoke to me, he was going to be labled as Subject #17 in my mind. Until he made a good impressionon me I would only address him as Desmond out loud. What? I know I maybe pissed but I'm not uncivil.

Lucy pushed open the door and strode into the room, greeting everyone with a smile and a hug. It was then, out of the corner of my eye, that I saw a man enter into the room behind her. He was tall, well, taller that my height of 5 foot 8 inches, which was quite tall for women, and so I placed him at about 6 foot. I knew that he was about 5 months older than me at the age of 25 but at the moment he looked older due to the obvious lack of sleep and the prevalent five o'clock shadow on his chin. He had a small vertical scar that ran over the right side of his lip and was emphasised by the fact that the stubble on his face didn't grow over the area. His dark brown eyes seemed wary, despite his crumpled appearance, as he surveyed the room and the people in it.

While I had been building my own mental profile on him I noticed that Shaun had approached him and they had immediately started to rub each other up the wrong way. Shaun had probably addressed hin as Subject #17 to his face. He never was any good when it came to meet and greet's. I sighed and made my way over once I caught sight of the pleading look that Lucy was sending me.

"Shaun. Don't you need to be finalising the historical data for the Animus entry?"

Shaun looked at me, and seeing my carefully mastered expression along with the slightly dismissive tone in my voice, he took the hint and walked away grumbling, no doubt about how stupid #17 was and why he couldn't be more competent. Rolling my eyes at his back, I turned back to #17 and smiling, held out my hand for him to shake.

"Hello. It's nice to finally meet the one that this whole operation is for. My name is Rose Alburns and I'm one of the field Assassin's that has been assigned to this mission."

He looked a little taken aback by my friendly and normal greeting. Well 'friendly and normal' in comparison to Becca's highly enthusiastic greeting and Shaun's barbed tongued one, and if I was truly honest, I could see him look slightly relieved at this fact.

He took my hand in a firm shake. "Hi. Great to meet a normal Assassin. I didn't think there were any. I'm Desmond but I guess you already knew that."

I couldn't help but grin at his sarcastic response and he immediately went up in my books. Anyone who could wield sarcasm like a sword was a friend in my books. Maybe that sort of verbal warfare was the reason that Shaun and I got on so well.

"Well I wouldn't say I was normal. After all, what sort of normal person has 'Assassin' as their job description."

I saw him smile slightly at this and some of the wariness left his posture as he relaxed.

"I guess you're right there." He replied.

"I'm going to let Lucy explain the rest of what is going on to you while I finish some last minute work O.K.?"

I walked back to my desk, but not before seeing the thankful smile that Lucy sent my way. I sat down and finished reading the information that was in the file on my ancestor. Like Ezio, there wasn't a whole lot of information on her. All I had was that her name was Aria della Valle, which I knew meant Air of the Valley, and that she had close ties with the Auditore's. After that, the information on her seemed to dry out at almost the exact same time as Ezio's. It was no wonder they wanted me to do this. Just by looking at the two files together it was simple to assume that whatever it was that Ezio got himself involved in, Aria did as well.

"I was told that you were also going into the Animus and that you would be working with me in there." The voice from above me caught me by surprise, as I hadn't noticed the person approach while I had been immersed in the folders, and so I almost jumped out of my seat in shock.

"Sorry." the voice chuckled, "I didn't realise that paperwork was so interesting that I would be able to sneak up on the resident _Master _Assassin."

I looked up to find Desmond standing above me with a smirk on his face. I sent him a withering look.

"This '_paperwork' _ is all the information that we have on the ancestor that I shall be shadowing. I have learnt that it pays to learn as much as possible about a mission, even if it isn't overly dangerous."

"Overly dangerous? The Animus isn't dangerous at all! A little disorientating at first, but definitely not dangerous."

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "And you know that for certain do you? You must always assume that there will be danger involved in a mission even if it does not seem like it."

He looked a little taken aback by the statement and I could see him staring at me, as if doing so would reveal why I thought that the Animus was dangerous. Well, as far as I was concerned, he could keep guessing. I certainly wasn't telling him. We continued our staring match for another few minutes before Becca's voice brought us back to reality.

"The Animi are up and ready to go. Let's hurry it up people."

Desmond and I broke eye contact and walked over. We both climbed on, and, as the straps closed and the program started, I heard Luce whisper in my ear before this reality was replaced with another.

"Don't worry. We will keep you safe this time."

* * *

Chapter 1 done!

Chapter 2 has been planned and I am about to start writing it up. As soon as I finish my mini Physics essay on Quarks. Aren't A-Levels a load of fun?

The next chapter will be the first within the Animus. There will not be any appearances from our resident Italian assassin until (maybe) the end of the next chapter. It really depends on where I decide to cut the chapter off.

R & R Please!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Renaissance Introductory Course.

**A.N:**** Hello. Sorry for the late update. The wiring in my house pretty much blew up and so I've been living like a caveman for about four days before the repair men came. So here is the next chapter and it's going to focus on Aria's background.**

**A big thank you and cookies to **HeavensWeatherHellsCompany **and **Devil-Angel** for the reviews. You were very helpful!**

**So I'm on half-term at the moment and so I should be able to write quite a few more chapters during that time, when I'm not doing my physics practical and essay. The new written chapters won't all be posted at once but once a week so that there will still be regular updates even when I'm back at school.**

**This chapter was difficult to write. This one has to be the 3rd re-write of this chapter and I'm still not happy with it :(**

**Listening to: Assassin by Muse**

**(God I love Muse. Like really love them. Ever since getting Absolution in 2004 they have been at the top of my most played list. Expect to see more of them here.)**

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Assassin's Creed franchise. Only Rose, Aria and any other OC that happens to pop up.**

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The white space that was the Animus' loading "screen" surrounded me. I could feel the creeping sensation that it produced under my skin as the machine probed my DNA for the memories it needed to access. I didn't like that part. Maybe it was because of my training as an assassin but I hated the idea of something being able to gaze through my memories, even the ones that belonged to my ancestors, in the same fashion that a person might flick through a magazine. It made me feel unsafe, the fact that I could be read so easily by a machine.

I was lucky, while Desmond had to go through a whole opening sequence with his ancestor to help begin his training, I only had to go through a small "summary" of my ancestor's past up till the point where her story and Ezio's joined. This meant that I had to spend less time interacting with my ancestor's conscientiousness and this suited me just fine. Just as a smile formed on my lips at this thought, it faded as I realised that I was being propelled into the first of Aria's many memories that were going to be laid bare for my viewing pleasure.

* * *

_The early morning sun shone through the cloud's and bathed the terracotta rooftops of Siena in a pale yellow glow, turning the whole city burnt orange in colour. At the edge of the city, one of the many large houses was being opened up to get ready for the new day. On the ground floor, near the back, where the vineyards were located, a young girl in a plain white dress ran barefoot into the large kitchen and up to a large, elderly lady that was barking orders at the servants in the kitchen._

"_Idiota! Watch what you are doing with that bread. If you cook it any more it will disintegrate. Capito?"_

"_S-si signorina!"_

_The little girl tugged on the woman's skirts and looked up, red-faced and crying._

"_Bambinaia. Matteo and Enrico pushed me into the dirt and wouldn't let me play swords with them."_

"_Hush now piccina. They are young boys. This means that they are brash and they probably feel as though you are too young to play with them."_

"_But bambinaia-"_

"_But nothing Aria. They are young men and are going to be busy from now on. I tell you what. Do you want to help me make bread and some cake for your mother?"_

_The little girl smiled up at the head cook. "Can I eat the left over cake mix?"_

"_You can have _some_ of the left over cake mix Aria. If you eat too much then you will get a very bad stomach ache."_

"_Thank you Cara! Your cake is the best!"_

_The two then spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen cooking and when Aria was summoned to see her father in his office, she was almost covered head to toe in flour._

"_Quick piccina. If your father has summoned you to his study it must be important."_

"_Si bambinaia."_

_Cara patted most of the flour off of Aria and guided her to the kitchen exit. Aria ran off the the main staircase. Dusting the rest of the flour off her dress and onto the stone floor,she slowly made her way up the large marble staircase to the top floor of the house. As she slowly made her way to her father's office Aria wondered what her father wanted with her. She reached the office and knocked on the heavy oak door. With the word from her father she entered, and had her eyes opened to the secrets of the world._

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* * *

_

"_Focus Aria. You will not be able to use your talent properly if you do not control your emotions."_

_Aria placed the bow and arrow down. "But Papa, I keep missing the bulls-eye. Matteo and Enrico always hit the bulls-eye no matter what the distance is."_

"_I know principessa. You must remember that your brothers have been homing their gift for a lot longer than you."_

"_I know but how am I ever going to be a successful assassino if I do not perfect my skills?"_

"_Practice piccina. That is how you can perfect your skills. Now again but from further back."_

_Aria took ten steps back from her current position, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them she was greeted by a disorientating sensation as her eyes seemed to focus in on the target at the other end of the field. Aria marvelled at the clarity of her vision and the fact that every detail was visible on the target. Aria's attention was then drawn to an area just above the target that held the design of bulls-eye, just like the one on the target. Raising the bow, she focused on the mark in the air and inhaled. Counting to five, she released her breath and at the same time released the arrow from the bow. She watched with baited breath as it cut through the air and sailed towards the target. With her tunnel vision still working, she saw, almost in slow motion, as the arrow embedded itself into the target and caused tiny pieces of wood to fly off of the target._

_Suddenly, her vision returned to normal and Aria just stood there wide-eyed staring at the target. _

_Her father smiled at her. "Well done amore mio. You can now start training your Eagle Eyes. If you train enough you should be able to use this skill at will. Now start practising again but his time use these throwing knives."_

_Aria smiled. "Si Papa."_

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* * *

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_'Well this is a marvellous way to celebrate my 16th Birthday.' Aria thought as she pushed her horse into a gallop._

_Behind her the shouts of the guards started to fade away as she got further away from Monticiano. Gripping the bleeding cut on her fore-arm Aria kept on riding towards Siena and home. Slowly the darkness that blanketed the land gave way to the murky light of dawn. Aria rounded one of the final hills between Siena and the family vineyards when she saw a large plume of black smoke rising above the hill. Panic ran through her as she surged the horse forward at an ever increasing rate. She saw them when she rounded the hill._

_Templar soldiers were swarming all over the vineyard and house with torches in hand. Aria's eyes moved to the house when she heard screaming. Men were tying all the workers together and pushing them into the house. Then the Templars threw the burning torches into the building. Aria covered her ears to drown out the sound of the people inside screaming. Focusing and looking round with her Eagle Eyes she caught sight of something that made her cry out in horror. Hanging from the edge of the barn were the torn and beaten bodies of her family. The Templars had stripped them of all their clothing and possessions and were beating the bodies with large blanks of wood that they had broken off one of the courtyard benches._

_Aria couldn't watch any more. Turning around, she ran back to her horse with tears streaming from her eyes. Climbing onto the horse she rode as fast as she could in the opposite direction. Hours passed before she was calm enough to think about what she was going to do. It was at this point she remembered on of her father's many acquaintances. She new that he lived close by from where she now found herself and prayed to God that he would provide her with shelter. With new purpose she pushed the tired horse into a light trot and set off for Monteriggioni._

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* * *

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"_I am sorry about your family Aria. Your father was a dear friend of mine. You may stay here for as long as you like."_

_Aria bowed. "Sono grato del tuo aiuto Messere Auditore."_

"_As I said before Aria, it is no problem at all. And please, call me Mario."_

_A maid came into the room. "This is one of my staff. She will show you to a house that I have set up for you in town."_

"_Grazie Mario."_

_Aria followed the girl out of the Villa Auditore and into the town. Looking around Aria could tell that the town had seen better days. The majority of the buildings had been boarded up and the paint was peeling off the outside in large strips. The maid stopped outside a high story town house. The outside of the house looked cleaner than the surrounding buildings. The windows on the front of the building looked like they were newly cleaned. Giving Aria a key, the maid walked back towards the villa._

_Aria inserted the key into the heavy oak door and stepped inside. The ground floor was taken up by the kitchen. Everything was covered in a fine layer of dust but it all looked in working order. Aria started to make her way upstairs, sneezing the whole way from the plumes of dust released by the carpet. The first floor contained a room at the front with two large windows bordered by a set of heavy curtains. On the wall opposite the door was a large, empty fireplace with an empty wooden bookcase on either side. The far end of the room had large desk and a padded chair behind it. This immediately reminded Aria of her father's office. She pushed down the wave of sadness that threatened to claw its way out of the cage that she had looked all her emotions into. Once she had carefully schooled her expression into one of indifference, she made a mental note to start cleaning out the place and getting some books and other supplies into the house. _

_Going up the final flight of stairs, Aria opened the door that led to the bedroom. It seemed to be the only room in the house that had been cleaned. The room was fairly big and seemed brighter than the rooms downstairs due to the whitewashed walls. Against the left wall was a king sized four poster bed with light blue curtains. On the other side of the room directly opposite the bed was a large vanity with a mirror and a wardrobe. A door to the right of the entrance to the room led to a tiled wash room with a large brass bath and a lavatory bucket that could be thrown out of the window near the ceiling._

_Aria made her way back into bedroom and crossed over to the shuttered windows. Pulling the shutters back Aria marvelled at what was outside. Outside of what was actually a set of glass doors was a whole over grown roof garden, enclosed by latticed walls. The area was protected from the sun by yet more white painted lattice covered in climbing plants. Aria couldn't help but smile. She now knew exactly why Mario had chosen this house for her. He must of known that she would need to keep herself occupied with something other that assassinations and so had picked out a house that she could renovate and spend time and attention on. Feeling a little happier Aria opened the doors and moved over to the bed. Stripping off the dark brown trousers and the leather boots, she sat on the bed, crawled under the covers and slowly slipped into a restless sleep._

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* * *

_

The world seemed to speed up around me as I watched Aria completely renovate the house that she was given. Walls were repainted, shutters replaced and books and furniture were moved in. I walked upstairs as the world kept on speeding past all around me. The kitchen now gleamed and the walls on the inside were now whitewashed and had paintings hung up on them. On the first floor the office-come-living room now had full bookcases, a sofa and a raging fire in the fire place. The bedroom was the least changed part of the building and the only difference that I could see was the full wardrobe that contained different dresses and other outfits.

The world started to slow down and I saw a fast moving Aria going to the roof garden with a large vase in hand. I followed her outside and all I could do was let out an impressed whistle. The roof garden hand been completely cleaned. The stone floor and walls had been washed so that they now gleamed a brightly in the sun. The latticework had been repainted and all the overgrown plants had been cleared away. Now many flowering plants covered the lattice and in the centre of the garden stood a set of wicker chairs and a large table. To be honest I was very impressed that Aria had been able to all of this in about a year and on a very small budget.

I could feel the world slow down further and the tugging motion in my gut signalled to me that I was about to enter another of Aria's memories. However before the world started to reform around me, a confused voice cut through my head.

"Desmond wait. We're picking up a strange anomaly on the building in front of you."

Focusing I spoke up. "Lucy, Becca. What is going on?"

"We've picked up a strange anomaly in Desmond's Animus that definitely isn't a part of his ancestors memory."

"That is strange. Can you scan it and see where it came from?"

At this point I heard Shaun pipe up. "Don't you think we aren't getting onto that right now? The scan is almost complete. Here we go."

Lucy drew in a sharp breath. "The anomaly. Its origin is from Subject #16."

I went rigid. Sadness and regret rose up and plastered themselves onto my face. These were swiftly overwhelmed by anger and it took a lot of restraint to stop the tide of swear words and insults that were poised on the tip of my tongue when I heard Desmond's remark to this piece of information.

"Subject #16? You mean the psychopath that decided to decorate my room with his blood Subject #16? Well then we should _totally _look into this because, you know, he was blatantly the most sane and stable person in the world. He must have been chock full of handy advice and information."

Now I was pissed and in a quiet voice I spoke to Shaun. "Shaun. Stop the simulation."

"Stop the simulation? Why?"

"Shaun," I said in a dangerously low voice, "Stop. The. Simulation. For both of us."

I heard his nervous gulp and I knew that he had cottoned onto the reason as to why I wanted to be let out of the Animus. I also knew that he would let me out.

As everything started to fade away from around us I could hear Desmond's confused voice questioning Lucy about the fact that we were being taken out.

* * *

As I came to and sat up from the Animus I looked around and saw Lucy, Shaun's and Becca's concerned gaze. They knew I was pissed and they knew the reason why. Hearing a groan come from my right, I look right to see Desmond waking up. I walked over as he sat up and cocked my fist back.

"Hey Desmond."

"Huh?"

Desmond tilted his head up to look at me and, accompanied by a very satisfying crack, reeled back as my fist collided with his nose. Whipping my hand on my jeans, I looked at him as he struggled to get up.

"I don't care who you think you are. Nobody talks about my brother that way."

Turning towards the rest of the gang, I walked towards the hallway and called over my shoulder. "Get ready for us to re-enter the Animi in about 2 hours."

With that I walked of towards my bedroom for some sleep, leaving behind a room that contain three guilty people and one extremely shocked and confused person on the floor trying to stem his bleeding nose.

* * *

Translations.

Idiota – Idiot

Capito? – Understand?

Bambinaia – Nanny

Piccina – Little One

Principessa – Princess

Assassino – Assassin

Sono grato del tuo aiuto Messere Auditore – I am grateful for your help Mr Auditore

Grazie – Thank you

* * *

So that's chapter 2 over and done with

As I said at the beginning of the chapter I had real trouble trying to get the feeling of the chapter right.

Anywho, thanks for reading.

Please R+R :)


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